Chasing Destiny
by energetically.chary
Summary: Sam Manson feels that her destiny has eluded her. So when she picks up a hitchhiker one rainy night she knows she's about to find her destiny. His secret and her purpose are intertwined. All she has to do is survive the trip first. Easier said than done.
1. Meetings in the Rain

**Chasing Destiny **a Danny Phantom story

Rating: T  
>Pairings: NA yet.

**Full Summary: **Samantha Manson had always felt that she was destined for bigger and better things then the mundane life she's been leading since graduation. There had always been that feeling that she had more of a purpose to her life than the one she's living now. So when she has this urge to pick up the hitchhiker she spots on the side of the road, she knows that her whole life will change. While she doesn't know how, she knows that this blue eyed, raven haired stranger, his secret, and his own destiny are intertwined with her own. That is, if she can find it. Her destiny, that is. Semi-AU

**Chapter One: **Meetings in the Rain

* * *

><p>It was raining for the third time that week as Sam Manson drove home from work. The recently 21 year old young woman cursed the weather as she made the commute from the office to her apartment. Her bright headlights cut into the dark, highlighting the sheets of rain that fell from the clouded sky, darkening Sam's already sullen mood. As her hybrid stealthily drove down the streets, Sam made a list of chores she'd have to attend to when she arrived home, not looking forward to them at all. In fact, the Goth was severely considering curling up on her couch with a warm blanket, hot tea and some movies.<p>

Back in high school, Sam never expected her life to end up so…bland. She'd always believed to be destined for bigger and better things, not because she was conceited in that aspect, but because she had thought she'd known how her life would plan out. After all, she was the rebel, the one who organized rallies and protested for what she thought was right: she was the fighter, the one who knew where she was going to end up and how she wanted to live her life. But high school, even if it was only three years ago, seemed ages ago and now here she was….going nowhere.

What happened to changing the world?

She sighed deeply, moving to turn on the radio in her car, letting whatever was on the radio fill the silence of the car. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw people walking the streets of the city; small population, so she was a bit surprised to see citizens out and about at nine on such a rainy night. But she thought nothing too much about it- Sam didn't think too much about this town and though she'd always told herself she'd leave, she had yet to act upon that promise.

What happened to _her_?

She did a double take as she passed what looked to be a hitchhiker. Those were rare in this town, and she thought it was a hallucination, but that was definitely a hitchhiker- either that or the person just liked standing on the side of roads sticking their thumbs out. As she watched the sight disappear in her rear view mirror, something stirred inside her.

Making an executive decision, she pulled a U-turn at the next light, pulling up in front of the hitchhiker. This was a severely bad idea and on her list of bad ideas, this easily took the number one spot. What if she was picking up a crazy serial killer and she was the next victim? Scenario after scenario of morbid endings ran through her head even as she put her car in 'park' and rolled down the passenger window.

Something, though, was telling her that talking to this person was the right move. Sam couldn't explain it- it was one of those intuitive feelings that had no logical meaning to it. But she knew deep down that talking to this stranger would change her life. Or end it, but really, even that was exciting enough compared to the life she led right now.

Sam leaned over to take a better look at the person who might very well be the death of her. She decided that if this was the guy who would kill her, he wasn't too shabby looking. For a hitchhiker anyway. Black hair matted down by the rain, bright baby blue eyes and a nervous smile that was dorky enough for Sam to think 'cute'. He was wearing a brown trench coat that was drenched with rain and Sam swore there were darker spots that she immediately believed were blood. Until she realized how ludicrous that sounded. Paranoia was catching up to her. The man had a duffle bag in his hands, bulky with whatever he had packed in there.

_'Body parts of his victims.'_ Sam thought, then chastised herself for even thinking that way. Clearing her throat, she finally addressed the young man. "Need a lift?"

Surprise was evident in the male's eyes and his smile faltered. "Wow, I didn't think this would actually work. You're really offering?" he asked in disbelief.

Sam couldn't blame him- she couldn't believe either. She shrugged. "Well, yeah. Thumb's universal sign for a ride isn't it?" With a slow exhalation, Sam inclined her head at the door. "Get in."

The stranger gave her an odd, questioning look and Sam stared right back, refusing to let herself be intimidated by this young man. It felt like he was trying to figure her out in a glance and she felt uncomfortable. But she wasn't about to show it.

"Are you getting in or not?" Sam asked with slightly more irritation in her voice.

_That_ seemed to break the hitchhiker out of his stupor and he nodded his head, sprays of water flying from his hair and San belatedly realized that it was raining still.

Her new passenger seemed to realize that too, because the moment he sat down and the seats made a squelching sound, he winced and looked at her with an apologetic smile. "Sorry..."

She shrugged as she put the car back I dive and continue used her journey. "It's fine- its only water." She told him dismissively. The. A thought occurred to her: "It _is_ only water, right?"

He grinned. "Don't worry, I'm the good guy."

Sam found that hard to believe but she had nothing else to say save for, "Where to?" because though picking up this stranger was a bad idea, taking him to her apartment would be an even worse one.

It was the stranger's turn to shrug and he slunk in the seat, arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face. "I dunno. I didn't expect anyone to actually, well, you know, _stop_."

She braked at the light. "Where we're you planning on going before I stopped?"

He gave her that nervous smile again, like he was the kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I was going to walk to the next state and then the state after that and the one after that and, well you get the picture."

She stared blankly at him. He was going to walk the country? He didn't look any older than her! "And that would achieve what, exactly?"

He shrugged again. "I'm looking for someone. Two someone's actually." The tone of his voice said that he was done talking about that particular subject and Sam was fine with it- his personal life was that: personal.

"Oh." Sam coughed in an attempt to ignore the blanket of awkward silence that had fallen over them, being filled only by the music. "Um, so where did you want me to drop you off?" She tried again.

The stranger sat up in his seat and the smile was back on his face. "Well, anywhere would be fine- the less walking I have to do the better, right?"

She found it difficult to return the smile. "I guess so." The next words tumbled out of her mouth before she could put them through a filter. "Why are you doing this?" He gave her a blank look. "I mean, just walking?"

The question didn't seem to be one he was expecting as he blinked in surprise for a few moments. "Um, because I can? No one can really _stop_ me from going, you know?"

It seemed so freeing to be able to just go. To decide to do what he was doing now. "I wish-" She almost slammed on the brake when her passenger slapped his hand over her mouth, shhing her. "What the hell?"

"Never say 'I wish'. Ive had very bad experience with what follows those words. Don't want it to rub off on you." He offered as explanation. Absurd as the reasoning was, he actually looked frightened and his blue eyes darted around looking for signs of…well something. Sam was sure she didn't want to know _what_. "Now, let's try that again."

She shot him a lavender eyed glare full of anger and annoyance. It intensified when he smirked. "_Fine." _She spat. "Let's try again. There are moments in life when I want to be able to do that."

"Do what?"

Sam took one hand off the wheel and gestured vaguely to him as a whole. "_This_! Just travel without any attachments to everything else in life! To just…walk and be yourself." She sighed wistfully, her shoulders slumping as she continued onward.

The stranger stared at her for a few moments, music filling up the car. Sam began to fidget under his stare and was about to tell him to stop when he cut to the chase and blurted out, "Then why don't you?"

This time she did slam on the brakes and both of them 'oofed' as they were pitched forward violently, more so due to the wet roads. Sam felt her heartbeat kick up as she gave the stranger an incredulously look as if he was serious.

"What?"

"Why don't you be yourself?" He said again, completely serious. "I could always use some company."

"A-are you serious?"

His smirk turned almost evil. "Deadly."

* * *

><p>Hello and thank you for reading the first chapter of "Chasing Destiny", my first full length Danny Phantom Fic!<br>I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and leave a _review_.

**Next chapter: **Sam's decision (which you all know), more on the stranger (whom you all know) and Sam's first encounter with Phantom. And the Box Ghost.

Thank you!  
>.chary<p> 


	2. First Encounters

******Chasing Destiny **a Danny Phantom story

Rating: T for mild cussing and possible situations later on.  
>Pairings: NA yet.

**Chapter Two**: First Encounters

**Note: **We're going to assume that Danny always had that logo on, because one) I like that logo and 2) This is the first time he's ever met Sam. I'll come up with a logical explanation about it later. Promise.

**Disclaimer: **Danny Phantom is a licensed product of Billion Fold Studios, in cooperation with Nickelodeon and created by Butch Hartman. In no way, shape or form do I stand to make any profit from this story and are only borrowing the characters for my own amusement. In other words, I do not own.

* * *

><p>There was silence for at least three minutes in the car as rain continued to drum down from the skies and the music finally switched to a radio commercial that was advertising something Sam was not interested in buying. At the moment, the young woman was staring disbelievingly at the stranger she'd picked up, who had just, moments ago, suggested that she drop everything in her life and do what he was doing: walk across the country just because he <em>could<em>.

Sam opened her mouth to say something and pointed a finger at the stranger, only to shut her jaw with an audible 'snap' and to let her finger droop as she actually let the idea take root in her mind and let it start to grow. The dark haired girl frowned at the knowledge and turned back to her wheel, forcing the car to move again as the stranger chuckled at her reaction.

'_Why don't you?' _

The words echoed in her head and she tried to keep his voice out. She wanted to, so very badly, every part of her did! But it wasn't practical: how could she just up and leave everything she'd been working for on the whim of someone she didn't know? She'd have to leave behind her job, her schooling, her-

Wait. Sam blinked and pulled over to the side of the road, putting the car back in 'park'. She leaned against the door of the driver's seat, the seatbelt digging into her skin, but she ignored it. The stranger mirrored her pose, both of them crossing their arms over their chest as they had a semi-intense staring contest.

She reached out to shut off the radio, letting the rain be the only background music to her thoughts. Her reasoning was off. Pratical? She was Sam freaking Manson. She'd never been 'parctical'. When she wanted her school's menu changed to allocate for ultra-recyclo vegetarian, she didn't _write _to the school board- she bugged them until they relented. Instead of protesting frog dissection like _normal _students, she let the amphibians _go. _When had she every cared about practicality?

And her job? It was a part time job that she hated. Sure, she didn't need the job, but she needed something to fill her time when she wasn't going to classes. As for her schooling? She was paying her tuition and hell, with her parents' fortune and her trust fund (finally open to her), she didn't even need to go to school! She didn't have friends in this town: she kept to herself for a reason- her only true friends were somewhere stuck in Amity Park.

There was _truly _nothing holding her back but herself. She was frightened of this prospect, of being adventurous. Three year of living in conformity had dampened the soul of her rebel side and she'd become…like everyone else.

What _had_ happened to her?

But here, like an ominous godsend, was some stranger, who was offering her a way out of the rut. All she had to do was let herself go.

"Why should I go with you?" She asked finally.

He shrugged and she was starting to hate that reaction. "I never said you had to. It was just a suggestion." He leaned forward and grinned. "But why _shouldn't _you go with me?"

"For starters, I don't even _know _you. You could be trying to kill me for all I know." She countered.

He laughed. "Me? Try to kill _you?_" He sighed. "That's funny. But you're right. You _don't _know me, you _don't _know if I'm trying to kill you. However, isn't that better than what's waiting for you here?" He gestured vaguely and she knew he was talking about the town. "You're unhappy." He stated bluntly.

Her eyes narrowed. "How would you know?" Sure, she'd kept her Goth look over the years, upgraded it a bit to fit her age, but she _loathed _people who assumed to know her through her appearance.

"In my experience, people say a lot more with their eyes than anything else." He explained. "At least, that's what yours tell me. Am I wrong?"

Sam's silence was all the answer he needed. And he knew that.

"If it makes you feel better, my name's Danny."

"No last name?"

"Hey, I didn't get _your_ first."

"Sam."

"Nice name." He shifted in his seat, facing forward again. "So, Sam, you reach a decision yet? It's a onetime offer I'm making here." He waggled his eyebrows and gave her a charming smile that had her scoffing as she pulled the car out of its parked spot.

"I've made my mind up."

* * *

><p>Sam stood in the middle of her apartment, looking around at the plain, boring and definitely not her room. There was nothing there to resemble who <em>she <em>was. And, thinking back on it, she hadn't ever had the desire or the inkling of it to make it mirror who she was. In retrospect, she'd always believed that she'd move on and instead, had been stuck. It was why she hadn't bothered to unpack everything fully; boxes were still lying around. There were things of little value to her in this place, save for a few personal items that she could throw into a bag and take on the road with her.

With Danny down in the lobby of the complex (she didn't trust him with her car), she only had a few minutes to pack whatever it was she needed before she left her life behind. Well, it wasn't her life, really- just a shell of something she hated waking up to. She found a few backpacks and a suitcase, filling it with her clothes and some hygienic products- tucking away some emergency credit cards for future use, if need be. She had strong suspicion that they'd have to be paying for a lot of things in cash. Not that she minded much.

As for everything else in her apartment: DVDs, food, dishes, her tv….she'd leave that behind. She could always buy new ones and she didn't need them for this trip. But that reminded her- if Danny was a hitchhiker, then he probably hadn't eaten anything for a while. And while all she had in the refrigerator were "things without faces", well, it'd be better for him. After all, beggars couldn't be choosy.

* * *

><p>Danny wondered if this was a good idea; while listening to his ghostly mentor had usually yielded fruitful results (though not initially), involving a completely innocent citizen was never their style. With Tucker and Jazz, it'd been different; his best friend and his sister had been with him on this trip since day one. But this girl, Sam? She'd probably never even seen a ghost before, much less fought one. He was starting to have serious doubts about letting her come on this trip, but it was a necessity to complete the rescue mission.<p>

The duffle bag he was carrying was on the floor, next to his shoes as he waited on the couch in the lounge. His trench coat, soaked, was draped over the couch in an attempt to let it dry some. Sure, he didn't feel the cold like others thanks to his internal air conditioning, but it still sucked to sit in a cold jacket- and it was gross.

He sighed, resting his hands on his knees as his blue eyes stared at the bag. Along with his laptop, his parents' weapons were in there- or at least, what he had been able to grab before Vlad had found him. All of his parents' inventions, their research, all of it was stuck in Vlad's lab. Except for the Ghost Portal. _That _was almost impossible to move, and it was still in their home in Amity Park. Except…that home was under lock down, too. By Vlad.

Danny had pulled off a lot of impossible missions before; he _was _a superhero, after all, but this seemed even more impossible than those put together. It seemed almost hopeless, even with the assurance that all would be as it should be, if he did what he needed to.

A shiver ran through his body and a small wisp of smoke left his mouth. With a groan, Danny stood, double checking the area and the ceiling for any cameras or observers. Out of all the places to find a ghost…the only way he could release a ghost back into the Zone was with the Fenton Porta-Portal and that would have been a doozy to explain to Sam.

Grabbing the thermos out of the duffle bag, he checked again for onlookers before transforming.

"I'm going ghost!"

Two rings appeared at the middle of his body and while one traveled upwards, the other traveled towards the ground, changing his travel worn civilian clothes into a black hazmat suit, his shoes replaced by white boots and his hands covered by white gloves. Dark raven hair turned snow white and blue eyes switched to glowing green. In the torso area of his hazmat suit was a white "D" with a "P" in the negative space. Gone was the quiet stranger Danny Fenton. In his place was the spectral hero Danny Phantom, a long way from his home in Amity Park.

The only logical place the ghost would have visited would have been Sam's place and, while she didn't quite trust him to know which floor she lived on, he _had_ been paying attention to the elevator. Clueless as he was, he knew when to watch out for things. What put him on edge was the fact that he'd only been with the girl for maybe an hour at most and they already _knew_.

He went intangible, flying up to the third floor, hoping that his duffle bag wouldn't get stolen. The hallway was empty and he stayed afloat for a while, listening for any indication of a ghost. Muffled yells and one very familiar voice finally reached him and he flew towards the second door on the right, going intangible and readying an ecto-blast for whatever was waiting on the other side.

Danny was visibly disappointed when he was met with a blue skinned ghost dressed in overalls with a matching cap, gloves and black boots. Relaxing his posture a bit, Danny rolled his eyes when the ghost raised his hands in what was supposed to be a menacing gesture, wriggled his fingers and yelled, "BEWARE!"

Sam was somewhere near the television, hiding behind it. Danny couldn't _really _blame her; the first time anyone met a ghost had to be a harrowing experience. And, while Danny was a bit ticked it was _just _the Box Ghost, he was also slightly grateful that it was _just _the Box Ghost. Exposing Sam to these things was better in small doses.

"All right, Boxy. We can do this the hard way or we can do this the easy way." Danny held up the Thermos and quirked an eyebrow. "Your choice."

"FOOLISH CHILD! THERE IS NO _EASY_ WAY TO DEFEAT ME! FOR I AM THE BOX GHOST, MASTER OF ALL CORRUGATED CARDBOARD!" he paused to think about it. "AND BUBBLE WRAP! BEWARE!"

Danny sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his hand. "More like the master of unwanted headaches." He uncapped the Thermos and pointed it at the ghost, caught off guard when one of the many boxes in the room (how the hell had he not noticed _that_ before?) slammed into him from behind, sending him to meet and greet the ground unexpectedly.

Pushing himself up, Danny rubbed the back of his head, which had begun to throb from impact, muttering, "Note to self: the Box Ghost still has powers. Especially when there are boxes around." He leaped back into the air, dodging the boxes the ghost was chucking at him. Searching for Sam, he called to her, "Hey! Do you mind if these boxes get destroyed?"

She was clearly still in surprise and shock, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape. At least she wasn't running away in fear; that was always a plus. But she did manage to answer his question with a shake of her head.

That was all the incentive he needed. Using his fingers as pistols, Danny began shooting small blasts of ecto-energy at each of the boxes that Box Ghost flung at him. Cardboard rained and its contents were reduced to ashes until the ghost had no ammo left. He gave Danny a nervous smile and when he tried to flee, the halfa grabbed the Box Ghost by the neck of his shirt and dragged him.

"I have one question and you_ better _answer." Danny growled. "Did _he _send you?"

The Box Ghost blinked in fear once, twice then relented. "THE BOX GHOST WORKS FOR NO ONE BUT HIMSELF! But…he did this as a favor to the one you speak of."

So he _was _sent by him. Danny scowled and sucked the ghost into the Thermos, capping it as the Box Ghost squeezed in one more "BEWARE!"

Glad that his task was over with, Danny flew over to Sam, who was staring wide eyed at him still. "Um hi. You okay?"

"Who are you?"

"The good guy, I swear." He slung the Thermos around his torso. "I've-WHOA! No need to pull those out on me!" He held up his hands in an effort to calm her, floating away from her as, lord only knew where Sam had pulled it out, but she had one: a freaking ecto-gun. A small pistol, not as powerful as the ones Tucker and Jazz normally used, but still enough to sting. So much for not having met ghosts before.

"I'll ask again: who are you?" Sam asked, her voice steel as she kept the gun level.

"Phantom. They call me Phantom. Now, let's be rational and put the gun down." He said calmly. The pistol looked familiar, not of his parents' design, but similar to it. In fact they looked almost like… "Where did you get that?"

"It doesn't matter: a friend from somewhere. That good?" Sam lowered the pistol, all hostility gone as she gave him a quizzical look. "I've heard about you from some people. Why are you here? Isn't your haunt Amity Park?"

"You know me?" He asked. That explained _quite_ a bit. He shook his head. "Look, I'm here for a reason and I've got to go for those very same reasons. I-I." Danny didn't know what he was going to say so he dove back down into the floor, changing back in the lobby, glad to see that his things were still there.

Feeling exhausted, he sank back into the couch. Sure, it was just the Box Ghost, but ghosts almighty, this rescue mission was starting to become complicated. And he'd barely even started.

* * *

><p>Well, there you have it! Chapter two! More is revealed on both our characters and ha! I hope you're all confused. You should be.<br>More from Danny's point of view, as this chapter did call for it, but you definitely received a taste of Sam and her life. Subsequent chapters should be more from her POV, but I'm not making promises.

I love hearing your guys' guesses and would love to hear where you think this is going.

*Note: I won't be updating quite as fast as this. The second chapter was already partially written. So I thought, "why not?"

I would like to thank all of you who reviewed and who put this story on their alerts! It warms my heart up plenty.

_Please, please, please_ leave your comments, concerns, and questions! I can't promise that I'll answer questions, but hey, it never hurts to ask!

**Next chapter: **Our protagonists hit the road for real! And as they travel together, Danny realizes that he's going to have to tell Sam his secret if they're mission's going to be effective. But Sam's got a few secrets of her own that she's keeping. Not as life changing as Danny's of course. And as for our guest ghost? Well...it'll be a surprise.

Thanks! And Happy Holidays!  
>.chary<p> 


End file.
